This invention relates to lawn furniture and more particularly to a modular frame cushion chair of this type readily convertible into a chaise lounge or sleeper by extending a number of telescopic frame members and unfolding sections of the cushion.
Although furniture convertible from a sofa or chair to a bed are well known they generally require complex articulating mechanisms and thus suffer from the disadvantage of being unduly expensive. One prior art chair convertible into a bed which does not have foldable structural members is illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 3,385,631 and is a wood structure having intricate wood extension members which retract into the bottom of the front of the chair. This chair has three independent cushions, each of a different depth, two of which comprise the chair seat and the other of which comprises the chair back and when extended into a bed the cushions must individually be placed upon the extension members to form the mattress surface. Moreover, because of the structural construction of such a chair-bed the manufacturing costs are unduly prohibitive for adoption to lawn furniture. Other known convertible furniture which have foldable sections rather than articulating mechanisms are illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 3,890,658; and co-pending U.S. patent applications of Tiffany Ser. Nos. 7,388 and 7,389 filed Jan. 29, 1979. However, this prior art furniture cannot be used for lawn furniture because the seat and back are foldable onto the floor. Lawn furniture must be durable, weather resistant, functionally self-contained and relatively inexpensive. Moreover, they should also be readily packagable in low profile containers to reduce transportation costs, and should be stowable during the cold seasons. To this end the lawn furniture should be capable of being readily disassembled and assembled without special skills or tools.